Turkey Day

We had a great Thanksgiving!!!  Very relaxing with lots and lots of yummy food...shopping...family...and fun!
We started off Thanksgiving morning with the Turkey Tracks 5K downtown (more to come on that later) and then headed back home to prepare for the big feast.  Harper went to Grandma and Boppy's to help them and Owen came with Richard and I.  He spent a great deal of the morning watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade...which I must say I was watching too.  We made some Thanksgiving yummies and rested in the afternoon.  About 4 we headed over to Boppy & Grandma's house to eat Thanksgiving Dinner.  Richard...in grand tradition...fried a super tasty turkey for the feast.  We ate and ate until our bellies could hold no more.  While we were there, the kids and I rode the 4 wheeler and played golf in the backyard (one of our fav things to do at their house...and Owen was quite the Tiger Woods).  After our food settled, Grandma, Aunt Melanie and I headed out for our annual shopping extravaganza.  It was a wonderful weekend!

 {Super Cute Turkey Shirts that Grandma made for Harper, Hazen and Owen}

{Grandma Marks and her Great-Grandkids}

Headed to the Pros...

Well...maybe not quite yet, but Owen did do an excellent job at t-ball this year!  He got so into it...he looked forward to his game every week.  Saturday was his last game, which I don't think he knows yet...he will be sad.  Owen's favorite thing to do was run the bases.  He like hitting the ball, but really enjoyed running fast to the bases and dancing around on them while he waited. 
He also liked to field the ball, but didn't like to wear his glove.  He had a great inaugural season of playing baseball with all of his friends!

OSU Football

On Saturday, Grandma and Boppy took us to the OSU vs. West Virginia Football game.  It was a blast!!!  We love Stillwater, Orange, and Gameday...so it was a perfect combination.  We walked around and ate before the game.  The kids even got to see the band perform outside the Art Building...up close and personal...a fun experience!
We all had a great time at the game.  Owen slept for about 45 minutes of it, but when he was awake he was participating in every cheer and yellin' for his Cowboys!  Harper had a blast and kept talking about how it would be when she went to school there one day.  A conversation that is too quickly approaching for me to think about!
Fabulous fall, football, family and fun!

Christmas in the City...a little early!

Last weekend, we headed to Branson for our annual Christmas visit to Silver Dollar City.  We usually go in December, but finally realized that it is usually freezing, we are miserable and the rides are usually closed because it is too cold.  So brilliance hit us and we decided to go in November.  It was absolutely perfect weather!

We were out of school on Friday, so we left early Friday morning.  We stopped at Lambert's outside of Springfield to eat some super yummy lunch.  Lambert's is the place of the "throwed rolls" and our kids love it.  They literally stand from afar and throw rolls...all you have to do it raise your hands and a roll comes sailing your way.  We had a great meal and full bellies when we left.  We arrived at our hotel just in time for the kids to go down for a nap.  Grandma, Boppy and I headed to the outlet mall for some shopping while the kids slept and played in the pool.  That evening we got all fancied up and went to the Presley's Country Jambroee Show...it was part of their regular show and a special Christmas portion.  Both of the kids loved the singing, playing and especially the comedy!

Saturday morning, we woke up, got ready and ate the delicious breakfast at the hotel.  Then we shopped around a few small shops by our hotel.  Grandma and I even got to go to a really cool fabric shop that gave us more project ideas than we have time for.  After that, we met up with Aunt Cindy and Tony.
Around noon, we headed to Silver Dollar City!  It was all decked out in Christmas Goodness!!!!  Just like usual, we rode tons of the kiddie rides...lots of fun.  Harper took Cindy, Tony, Richard and I on the big roller coaster, Powder Keg.  I still can't believe she is such a dare devil.  We spent the rest of our day at Silver Dollar City riding more rides, shopping in the stores, making s'mores, eating everything in sight and watching the parade and huge Christmas Tree. 
It was a wonderful early Christmas treat!  Now I am just chomping at the bit for Christmas to be here!

Halloween Adventures

Our Halloween Season (it seems like a season, because we do so many activities) was filled with...well...lots of candy this year!
We started off Sunday with the carnival at church.  The kids went down for a quick nap after lunch and then we got them dressed up and headed to the carnival.  It was actually not crowded at all this year and most of the high school kids running the games were glad to see us.  Translation...tons of candy!  Owen was a little nervous at first, but when he saw Harper get all the candy, he quickly joined in.  By the end, Harper was using her apron as additional candy storage.  They were excited to get Halloween started!

On Halloween, the actual day, we had Grandma, Boppy, Uncle Cole, Aunt Mel and Baby Hazen over for chilli dogs and cupcakes.  It was the perfect fall meal to start the perfect fall evening.  After dinner, we got all of the kids dressed in their costumes.  Hazen didn't even seem to mind his bumble bee costume...and I do have to say he is the cutest bee I've ever seen!

We headed outside and met some of our friends to go trick or treating around the neighborhood.  Our neighborhood was packed!  Cars parked all up and down the street and people everywhere.  The kids were literally running from house to house and I was having to run to keep up.  Owen thought the spookier the house...the better!  Lots of houses had fog and loud noises, but that didn't scare him.  He was on a mission for candy.  Harper loved telling everyone about her Laura Ingalls Wilder costume.  She was so proud of it!  She is such a polite trick or treater...Owen on the other hand...hmmm.  I caught him at one house saying, "Trick or Treat, Smell My Feet!"  I told him that wasn't polite and not to say it again.  As we went to the next house, Grandma asked him what he was supposed to say.  He responded, "Trick or Treat...Don't Smell My Feet!"  Oh boy!  After we finished Trick or Treating...Harper and her friends were dying to hand out candy.  They handed out every bit of candy that I bought before they headed inside.  I think they might have like that more than anything.
Here's to a great Halloween filled with candy and stinky feet!